


Treading in the Brackish Pool

by Freedom_Shamrock



Series: Sodium Can be Harmful to Your Heart [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Canon Divergent, Emotional Hurt, Gen, Growing Up, High School Angst, Life Lessons, Living with your mistakes, No Romance, Not Canon Compliant, Recovery, Salt, Tough Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-02-22 12:14:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22816081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freedom_Shamrock/pseuds/Freedom_Shamrock
Summary: Marinette has unexpectedly switched schools, and her former classmates have to face the music in how their behavior chased away their Everyday Ladybug. The goal isn't to bash anyone (except possibly Lila); it's more about the class coming to the realization that they done fucked up and sometimes there are no take backsies.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Plagg
Series: Sodium Can be Harmful to Your Heart [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1640167
Comments: 211
Kudos: 927





	1. Introspection of a Former Sunshine Child

**Author's Note:**

> This is a companion to [Saltinette](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16768114/chapters/39344542), and will make a lot more sense if you've read that. Saltinette was written based solely on the trailer for Chameleon (before the episode dropped), so that's the source material, not the actual episode or the following events.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien learns that Marinette has switched schools, and it's quite a blow.

"...And then her parents told me that they didn't want me coming back anytime in the near future," Alya said, the whole class was gathered around her when Adrien returned from lunch.

He nudged Nathanael and whispered, "What's going on?"

The red-haired artist let out a heavy sigh. "Marinette isn't out sick. She's transferred schools."

Adrien gasped, horrified. How could Marinette  **leave** ? She was their Everyday Ladybug. How were they going to get by without her. He forcibly pushed down on his panic; he didn't do well when people left him without warning. For all his father's flaws, he at least had Nathalie warn Adrien when he was going to be gone. Adrien focused on Alya, hoping to get more clear information.

"Can you believe they kicked me out? That they treated me like that?" Alya asked, far more indignant than he expected for someone whose best friend had just left school without warning. "I used to be welcomed like family. And  **she** hasn't answered a single text, phone call, or e-mail in eleven days. I counted." She looked around at her audience. "Who even  **does** that?"

"I'm so sorry, Alya," Lila said, hugging the girl from the side. "You didn't deserve any of that." Her mournful expression was straight out of a soap opera, and the class murmured in agreement.

"Did they say why she left Dupont?" Adrien asked. He needed more information, but he also wanted to redirect the topic if he could. He couldn't stomach the idea of them bad-mouthing Marinette further.

Alya shook her head, letting out a little huff of annoyance. "They told me to look at my recent behavior to see where **I** went wrong, like it's  **my** fault." She shrugged. "And I've gotta tell you, I have no idea what I supposedly did. I tried to explain that she's been acting off lately, I mean, she's been super paranoid and jealous and stuff, and I'm worried about her, you know?"

"I can't help but feel this is all my fault," Lila said in a calculated soft whine. "I'm  **so** sorry I came between you two, Alya."

Alya shook her head. "It's not  **your** fault, girl."

Adrien swallowed the words he wanted to speak. Words that would contradict that statement. He suspected Marinette's departure was directly linked to Lila's return to school, but he couldn't bring it up, not right now. Not with everyone assuring her otherwise. They'd just turn on him, too, the way they had Marinette. He staggered away from the group as horrible awareness settled on him. According to Chloe, most of the class had been together since  _ école maternelle _ . It had always been clear to him that Marinette was the best of them, and as such, it made sense for everyone to love and trust her. But in no time at all, Lila took that all away and turned everyone against her. What kind of people did  **that** , betraying someone they'd known most of their lives? Not real friends, that's for sure. And if they did it to her, why wouldn't they do the same to him? 

Growing up seeing social interactions in anime and in books, he was always sure he'd be the kind of person to recognize evil in his peers. He'd do what was right and stand up for others. He'd been eager to do that very thing as Chat Noir, but it was easier to do it when you were protected by a mask. When there was no risk to fragile and new social connections, he could be as brave as he always thought he'd be. But here, in class. It was harder. And that meant he wasn't really brave at all, didn't it? If he was truly going to be the kind of hero Ladybug deserved at her side, he needed to make some changes in his actions. He needed to figure out where and how he'd gone wrong so he could make it right.

Marinette hadn't been to Dupont since Lila's return, and even at the time it had felt like a dark day - when the whole class was outraged at Marinette because she didn't want to be pushed to the back of the classroom. He'd been drawn into the herd mindset but frankly, thinking it through later that evening, he'd totally seen how horrible it might have made her feel. On top of the seating fiasco she said she'd been chased by an akuma, and somehow Lila managed to make everyone doubt Marinette on that front. He could no longer remember the logic his classmates had followed, something about jealousy, but he hadn't paid much attention to it. He'd been too worried about his friend, who was pale and shaking after she'd returned from a long bathroom break. If she'd actually been targeted, that would be terrifying. He couldn't even imagine how that must have felt, and yet she'd somehow managed to fight it off or avoid akumatization, which was a huge accomplishment. He was also grateful because he couldn't imagine what it would be like to have to fight the clever girl as an akuma. She'd probably be the worst ever.

He'd tried writing her a card of support that night, but it sat on his desk, unfinished because he couldn't find the right words. Though it hurt to say, the way her friends hadn't been there when she needed them, and their doubt in her was probably enough to make her leave.

* * *

Chat Noir swung through the open window and landed lightly in the dark bedroom. After a quick assessment to confirm it was as empty as ever, he muttered a quiet, "Claws in."

Plagg spun out of the ring, oddly quiet. Usually he'd be demanding cheese, but he was apparently aware of Adrien's low mood, showing a degree of empathy Adrien had never seen out of the grumpy cat.

Adrien sighed and turned to stare out the window at the lights of the city. While Marinette had occasionally turned into a nearly incoherent mess around him, their friendship had grown over the time he'd known her. He hated the very real fear that he'd lost her. It wasn't just because she was one of his first friends or because he loathed the idea that he'd be forever lumped in with people who had truly betrayed her. No. Losing the opportunity to have someone so brilliant in his life was like the sky losing a prominent constellation.

"You okay, Kid?" Plagg asked, floating over to rest on the window sill.

Adrien shrugged. Of course he wasn't okay, but that's not really what his kwami was asking. The real question was would he be okay eventually, and he couldn't answer that.

"What's the plan?" Plagg asked. "How do we get Pigtails back?"

Adrien looked down at his kwami and frowned. Of course even Plagg wanted to bask in her presence. "I don't know that we can." He was far from an expert on this sort of social issue, and he knew he couldn't go to Nathalie or his father for guidance. "I think that for now…" Ugh his eyes felt hot and his chest went tight. "I think we have to give her space." It hurt to say that out loud. He bit his lip, then gave up all attempts to hold back his feelings and a couple of tears immediately slid down his cheek. "Her parents won't let any of us see her, and pushing against her wishes would be wrong."

The big room was silent for a moment. "So we're giving up?" Plagg looked crushed, something Adrien had never seen before. Usually the tiny being of destruction hid his more tender feelings behind bravado, sarcasm and cheese.

Adrien shook his head. "No. But we're going to wait and give her time to move past what happened." He needed a better understanding so he could apologize the right way. "And while we wait, I'll figure out how to prove that I'm really sorry for my part in what happened. I need her to know that if she ever lets me back into her life again, I won't fuck up again." 

People like Marinette Dupain-Cheng were unbelievably rare and deserved to be treasured. While he'd always known that, he hadn't done what he should to show her that. Between making it up to her and figuring out how to be truly brave as Adrien, he had a lot of self-improvements to make. While he was good at research, this would probably require more than just reading articles. What he really needed was a mentor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks all for being patient. I had fully intended on getting this done in spring 2019, but work on the original treatment of Something Familiar had priority. I do have a list of ideas for continuing this, some that I came up with myself and others that came out of comments, questions, and feedback, so thanks to all who read Saltinette and pitched in their two cents.


	2. Some Scoops are Sour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya realizes she hasn't seen or heard from her bestie in far too long, and she heads over to the bakery at lunch to get the scoop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit of Alya's perspective and should probably be chapter 1 since it happened before Adrien's chapter, but I thought of it after, so here it is as chapter 2 (I may flip their positions in the future). Please note that this is not season 3 post Chameleon compliant (and in fact isn't compliant with Chameleon since Saltinette was written based on the trailer before the show aired).

The last few weeks had been crazy busy. It felt like Hawk Moth had stepped up his game and the akumas were even more wild and destructive than usual. Alya sighed as she settled into her seat in class, editing her latest article so she could post it before class started. She managed to finish ahead of the warning bell, and she greeted her classmates as they filtered in. Something felt off at school, and she gazed around the room in an attempt to identify it. Now that she had time to really think about it, she realized something had felt not-quite-right for the last two weeks.

"Hey babe," Nino said, sliding into his seat beside her. "Working early, I see." He held up his phone, giving it a little shake to indicate he'd already read her latest post.

She smiled at him. "The news doesn't wait for a convenient time." It was so nice to be able to sit with him. Though, now that she was thinking about it, she wondered if maybe she should have talked to Marinette first before switching seats. It felt like she'd hardly seen her best friend in days… wait. The realization was like a splash of cold water kicked up from a passing truck. She couldn't remember actually interacting with Marinette in days. Many days. Far too many days.

"Hey," Nino said softly. "Is something wrong?" His big warm hand brushed down the goosebumps on her arm.

"Has Marinette been to school this week, like at all?" she asked. It was far too early for her bestie to be there. Was she sick and Alya hadn't noticed? God that would be crappy of her.

"Hmmm." Nino thought for a moment. "I don't think I've seen her since… gosh was it even last week?"

Alya's thumbs tapped at her phone as she rushed to open messaging so she could text Marinette. The date on her last outgoing message to her best friend was ten days ago. How had it been that long since she'd checked in on Marinette? She swallowed, uncomfortable as she read the last few messages in the exchange.

"Babe," Nino said quietly. "Please tell me you've at least called her some point in the last few days."

She shrugged her shoulders uncertainly, her throat unbearably tight and her eyes suddenly dry. Marinette's last message had come in eleven days ago, in the evening. It had been the same day Lila had returned to class from Achu. The day Marinette had come back from the bathroom tear-stained and shaking, insisting she'd almost been akumatized, but no one believed her.

**Marinette:** _ UR my best friend. WHY don't you believe me? _

**Alya:** _ I DO know you, and I know U tend to wig on me. _

**Alya:** _Can U B sure U really saw what U thought U did? That's all I'm asking._

There had been no further response from Marinette after that. Alya had been so busy with her blog, and the sudden spike in followers that came on the heels of Lila's interview, that she hadn't realized Marinette never replied. The next morning she'd sent two messages, and looking at them now, it did not paint her in a very favorable light.

**Alya** :  _ Girl, U should bring macarons to class today. It'll show everyone there's no hard feelings from yesterday's drama. _

**Alya:** _Pro-tip - I'm really craving the salted caramel ones. ;)_

Was it possible Marinette was out sick, for so long? Alya cobbled together a quick message, apologizing for not texting in so long and asking for a status update. That done, she hunted through her phone log. Surely she hadn't gone eleven days with no word from her best friend and not noticed. Right? She had to scroll repeatedly through incoming and outgoing calls before she found the last time she'd talked to Marinette. She yanked off her glasses and covered her face with her hands. She hadn't spoken with her best friend on the phone in twelve days, not since the night before Lila came back to class. She'd been too busy to answer Marinette's call after school, and in retrospect that was a shitty thing to do. Even if her bestie had only  **thought** she'd seen a black butterfly, she was clearly shook up. In fact, she wasn't sure she'd ever seen Marinette so distressed. God this was a mess. How on Earth was she supposed to fix this?

"Did you two have a fight?" Nino asked, his voice low.

"I don't know… maybe?" It hadn't been much of a fight. Marinette had been jealous of Lila, and to be fair, the Italian girl was living the dream. She'd never seen Marinette so nasty and calculating with anyone before, not even Chloe. In an effort to keep her bestie from saying or doing something that she'd later regret, Alya had shut her down immediately each time she raised a complaint about Lila. Maybe she should have handled it differently, taken her aside to speak privately. 

"I don't think it counts as a fight, but I was pretty firm with her about her attitude toward Lila," she explained.

"Did you listen to what she said?" Nino asked. "I mean, you should always cut your best girl some slack."

She looked at him and frowned. "I… think so?" She couldn't honestly remember. It had been too long ago, and that made it more than a little terrible. "You know she gets possessive of Adrien, and everything she said was so… mean. It was like she had convinced herself Lila was lying just so she could dislike something about her. Honestly, it was so unlike Marinette." She hid her face in her hands again. "I don't want to lose my best friend," she muttered, because that's what this felt like, silent treatment or an extended tantrum.

She heard Nino huff out a breath before his hand rested on her back. "It's okay, babe. You know her. She forgives everyone. Just make sure you're sincere when you apologize, and it'll be fine."

* * *

She'd somehow made it through the morning classes, though her notes were spotty and she was definitely not bringing her A-game today. Nino nudged her knee with his, silently letting her know he had her back. His notes were always pretty good. Maybe not as thorough as her own, but far better than Marinette's scatter-shot technique. Marinette had some odd brain quirk that allowed her to remember lecture content based on whatever she was doodling at the time. She could look at a scribbly dress and its accessories she'd thrown together during literature, and somehow recall that the character of  D'Artagnan was based on the historical figure Charles de Batz de Castelmore who served Louis XIV as captain of the Musketeers of the Guard.

When the bell rang for lunch, Alya gave Nino's hand a squeeze. "I'm going to head over to the bakery and see if Marinette's well enough for a visitor." She probably had the flu or something, and Alya had gotten her shot, so it would be safe. She couldn't bear to wait until after school to reassure herself that everything was okay.

"You want company?" he asked, tilting his head.

Yes, she did. Having Nino there would keep any of Marinette's possible wrath to a minimum, insulating Alya until she had a chance to get her apology out. But at the same time, she owed it to Marinette to weather that anger, if there was any, and she didn't really want her boyfriend to see her grovel the way she might have to.

"I think," she said slowly, "this is something I need to do myself."

He nodded, offering her a little smile. "You've got this."

She let herself be buoyed by his certainty as she headed out of school. She  **did** have this. Everything would be fine. She and Marinette were strong enough to move past whatever this blip was. She imagined climbing the stairs to her best friend's room, maybe bringing the lunch Sabine had prepared for her. She'd open the curtains to let in the sunshine and they'd catch up a bit. It would be fine.

She entered the bakery, along with the rest of the lunch time rush. It didn't feel weird to be here, and it certainly didn't seem like it had been two weeks since her last stop in. Her confidence wavered when she realized it  **hadn't** been that long. She and some of the girls had brought Lila to see the bakery just last week. And now that she was thinking about it, Alya hadn't even noticed her best friend wasn't with them. Oh god, she hoped Sabine hadn't mentioned seeing them, when they hadn't even asked about Marinette. She pushed the worry away. She could explain that. It had been a crazy morning, starting off with an akuma before school and a pop quiz in science. Lila was still hopeless at finding her way around Dupont and the girls were taking it in shifts to help her out.

Alya stepped around the crowd toward the counter. Though she'd been welcome to head up to the apartment in the past, she felt compelled to check in first. After all, Marinette had to be pretty sick to miss so much school. Sabine glanced up and Alya caught her eye, smiling. She pointed toward the apartment with her thumb. "I'm just going to go check on Marinette."

Sabine held up one finger, a caution. "Please wait there a moment, Alya. I need to speak with you."

Alya nodded and waited while her best friend's mom went through the process of helping the many customers who flocked to the best bakery in Paris. Eventually Tom joined her, assisting and speeding up the process. It would have been nice if Sabine could leave him to help the customers so she could get Alya upstairs, but it was fine. She chided herself for her impatience. At one point, Tom glanced over at her, looking surprised before an uncharacteristic frown made its way onto his face.

Eventually the crowd had been diminished and Sabine left Tom to tend the shop. She led Alya out of the bakery to the bottom of the stairs to the family apartment. "Alya, what are you doing here?" Her voice was even, almost stern.

"I'm here to check on Marinette," Alya said brightly, pushing ahead despite the wrongness she felt around her. "She must have caught something awful to be out of school for so long."

"Marinette isn't ill." Sabine frowned. "Is this a game to you?"

Alya stared at Sabine in confusion. "Game? Why would this be a game? What do you mean she isn't sick?"

"Who told you she was out sick?" Sabine asked.

Alya opened her mouth, then hesitated, closing her mouth and rethinking the situation. Why was Sabine angry? And at her? "Well… she hasn't been in school. And Marinette may be late at times, but she doesn't miss unless she's ill."

"And you, as a reporter, surely chose to verify your assumption with fact, correct?" Sabine asked pointedly.

"She's not answering my calls or messages," Alya said, keeping her phone in her pocket. She didn't really want to have to share that evidence.

"And I suppose you have no idea why that might be," Sabine said placidly. "You need to hone your observation skills a bit more before you'll be ready to take the news world by storm."

Alya shivered, but decided against following that statement up with anything. "Please, Sabine, may I speak with Marinette?"

Sabine's eyes narrowed. "I'd prefer you call me Madame Cheng, dear. We aren't as familiar as I once thought."

That was definitely a bad sign.

"And no," Sabine continued. "You may not speak with Marinette, partly because she isn't here and partly because she has no interest in speaking with anyone from your class."

Alya felt like she'd swallowed a rock, and it lay heavy in her stomach. 

"Marinette has changed schools," Sabine announced. "She will not be returning to Dupont."

Alya gasped in horror. How? "Why would she switch schools? And without telling us?" She would later reflect that her words came out in an undignified screech, but for the moment she was too caught up in the horror.

"The environment at Dupont, in your class in particular, had grown decidedly toxic." Sabine let out a sniff.

Toxic? She supposed Chloe's shenanigans had probably reached that level of awful. "Sabine--" She broke off when the woman cleared her throat. "Madame Cheng, I mean," she said urgently, hoping to correct and regain some control of the conversation. "Why wouldn't she tell me at least?"

"I can't tell you that, Alya," Sabine said evenly. "You wouldn't hear me if I told you, anyway, but you might try to reflect on your recent behavior to see how you might have driven your once-best friend away."

There was no way this was her fault!  **She** hadn't pushed Marinette away. She was a good friend, the best friend. She'd never do that. "I have  **no** idea what you're talking about. Marinette's been a little off recently. We have a new girl in class, and…"

"Enough!" Sabine snapped. "Alya, I have entertained you and your questions because you were once my daughter's dearest friend. And while you may not have intended to discard her in favor of something newer and shinier, you did. You are going to have to accept that these things are beyond your ability to influence." She settled her hands on her hips. "This conversation is over, and I would appreciate it if you and the rest of the students from Madame Bustier's class  **not** return to the bakery for the foreseeable future. Your families are welcome, but you are not." She turned away, giving Alya the clear message that she wouldn't listen to anything else.

Swallowing her shock, and shaking a little on the inside, Alya rushed through the bakery and out the door, hating the cheerful bell that mocked her on the way out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew! Alya's perspective was tough to write. My goal here is not to vilify Alya, but to show her as a 14-15 year old who got caught up in things and made some bad decisions. In future chapters we'll see how she learns to live with the consequences of her mistakes.


	3. Cognitive Dissonance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Juleka has managed to put off thinking about losing Marinette as a classmate for weeks. But now it's time to face the facts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that this is not season 3 post Chameleon compliant (and in fact isn't compliant with Chameleon since Saltinette was written based on the trailer before the show aired), though I am mentally including some of the Chameleon and post-Chameleon Lila shenanigans as background by this point. It's been about three weeks since Marinette withdrew from Dupont and a week since Alya found out.

Juleka let her mind wander from the history chapter they were supposed to be reading to the classroom. It felt different than it used to, and not in a good way. Juleka couldn't quite define it, it just felt… different. Wrong even.

Back before Adrien started school and before Marinette became truly effective at standing up for all of them, school had been okay. While everyone had to be aware of Chloe at all times, mostly to avoid drawing her attention, she tended to reserve her harshest actions for those who dared enter her bubble. And Marinette. Sure, there were the few bad days here or there when Chloe was in an exceptionally bad mood, but overall school had been okay. The classroom felt bright and open, an environment ideal for expanding young brains, as madame Bustier liked to call it. And while Juleka wouldn't have felt comfortable sharing things dearest to her heart, other than with a select few classmates, general conversation was easy enough. There hadn't been pressure to be perfect, or trendy, or on point with topics or opinions.

After Hawkmoth's first appearance school had a vibe of being perpetually two steps away from a panic attack. But to be totally fair, most of Paris gave off the same vibe and there was something comfortable in that familiarity. It was an environment that Marinette somehow thrived in, as if the constant disturbance was enough to calm down her galaxy brain and allow her to help them all shine brighter. 

Juleka's wistful smile was hidden behind the curtain of hair in front of her face. At the back of the room, she didn't need to worry about someone noticing and calling her out on it. In those first few months of city-wide uncertainty, Marinette had brought out the best of them. Sure, she tended to flake out and disappear here or there, and Juleka suspected those were the times when things became too much for the other girl, and she needed to decompress on her own. They asked so much from her, and she took it, carrying them all. But other than the random disappearances, Marinette was everywhere all the time, doing things for them, bringing them treats, and encouraging them, even when she had no reason to. Her celebration in honor of Queen Bee was a testament to how far Marinette would go to help her class, because frankly Marinette had more reason than any of them to loathe Chloe.

With Marinette gone, the classroom was somehow gloomy even on the sunniest days. Ugh. Like Luka, she sometimes struggled to come up with the words she wanted, but unlike her brother, music didn't help her find or express the label or concept she wanted to apply to something. She had her own issues, but synesthesia wasn't one of them.

At first, they'd all assumed Marinette was sick, and none of them really paid attention to how long it had been since they'd seen her. Things had been unbearably tense the last day she'd been in class… the first day Lila had been back from her travels, actually. It was a relief to return to school on Monday and not pick up in that same state. Instead, it felt as though they were waiting for a bad storm to pass, and while she knew others noticed it, too, no one seemed keen to mention it. 

It wasn't until Alya tried to go see her at lunch last week that they realized how wrong things had gone. That was when the soul of the class shattered… no. Marinette had been their heart. The class had lost its heart when it lost her, when they pushed her away.

The corners of Juleka's wistful smile turned downward and she felt a lump in her throat. The thing that she'd been running mental gymnastics around all day was finally there in front of her, utterly inescapable. They had lost Marinette, a girl who was so sweet and kind that she ran herself ragged to make her friends happy. When she came to them for help, they responded with suspicion and impatience. They treated her like they treated Chloe these days, harshly and without the kindness she embodied and deserved. And why? Because she didn't like Lila? It made no sense.

In retrospect, it was totally fair that she didn't want to be moved from the spot she'd been victorious in taking back from her bully at the start of the school year. They'd moved her without thinking about that, without even asking. And then they were mad at her when she was unhappy about it. Was it really fair to expect her to go along with their wishes without a word? She wasn't a doormat, or she'd never have stood up for them.

She'd looked on the verge of a panic attack when she came in claiming to have been cornered by an akuma butterfly in the bathroom. They'd all been akumatized and seen people get akumatized. They all knew how scary that was, and Marinette had managed to avoid it for so long. It was probably half the reason she was prone to vanishing on them. She didn't seek attention, and the more Juleka thought about it, the less it made sense that Marinette was acting out of jealousy. She'd helped set up her crush with another girl, and had done nothing to sabotage Kagami or the date. How had they forgotten about that?

Marinette made no attempt to hide her contempt for Lila, but that didn't automatically make her actions suspicious. Or it shouldn't have. It was uncharacteristic for Marinette to dislike someone the way she did Lila, and it was baffling. Sure, she was prone to snap judgements, witness her first meeting with Adrien. But she was also very reasonable. Once she had cooled down, she let Adrien explain the situation, and her perspective changed completely. If, after all this time, Marinette still didn't like Lila, could that possibly mean she had a valid reason?

Marinette said the other girl was lying, and none of them believed her. They didn't want to believe her. Juleka suddenly felt sick. What if they had thrown away their heart for a liar? There would be no fixing it, and she couldn't even talk it through with anyone. Rose wouldn't believe her, not if she didn't believe Marinette. And there was no way she could tell her brother what she'd been part of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Juleka is a quiet teen who has a lot going on in her head. She has her moments of boldness and strength, as well as her moments of meekness. She's more perceptive after the fact, when she's had a chance to think things through and look at all the elements. She seems one of the least likely to join in the mob mentality and most likely to realize just how much they messed up. I wanted to include her perspective because with the potential Lukanette vibes of Saltinette, and Juleka's relationship with Luka, she's going to need to come up again once Luka wins that contest.
> 
> I won't be writing all the classmate perspectives, probably just focusing on these three and maybe Bustier.


	4. Bad Bishop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caline Bustier contemplates her teaching philosophy in the wake of Lila's arrival to the class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Appreciation to [Diamond](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diamond) for suggesting (back on chapter 2) that a Caline Bustier perspective might fit well into this part of the story.

Caline Bustier had started her teaching education with a focus on the pedagogy developed by Maria Montessori. While she'd eventually decided she wanted to work with  collège or lycée students, she saw potential in the hands-on, self-directed, and collaborative efforts that were the hallmark of the Montessori method. She felt that if she provided age-appropriate lessons and support to these secondary students, she could turn out the most engaged learners. Her efforts showed remarkable results, with her students being the most bold freethinkers at Dupont. As a result, Monsieur Damocles had been willing to keep her cohort together so they could continue to build on that progress each year, using the other classes as controls to see if her model was, in fact, better.

It was true that things weren't perfect. Poor neglected Chloe continued to lash out at her classmates. She seemed to need so much more support and intervention than she should at this point. But Marinette had truly blossomed, becoming the class leader that they needed. Of course, Hawkmoth's arrival in Paris made teaching harder in all the school's environments, but it seemed especially taxing to her students. She'd had to alter her model a bit to keep them focused, a firm but gentle hand.

While the adjustments weren't perfect, and her students were much more prone to flights of fancy, they had settled into a situation that seemed to work. Since adding morning meditation, her special class was more focused and apparently less appealing to the local terrorist, as none of her students had been akumatized in some time.

Then Lila came to class. Her first day seemed to have triggered a  **rash** of difficulties, including Lila's own akumatization. And while Caline couldn't figure out how, it appeared to have also resulted in Adrien being briefly removed from school. She never found out why Monsieur Agreste pulled the boy from Dupont or why he subsequently reversed his decision, but she suspected Marinette had a hand in it. The girl was a born problem-solver.

Unfortunately, Lila had gone traveling with her mother for several months after her enrollment, and while she met with them weekly through the wonders of technology, she didn't truly become a member of the class community. To be fair, it was hard to embrace someone who was so rarely a part of the group and who was at such a distance. It also meant that the issues that had been raised on her arrival were unresolved, causing them to fester and become toxic. There was nothing for it, and the resolution would simply have to wait.

Lila's return came during a blessedly peaceful week, free of akumas that impacted school as well as any other classroom drama. But it had gone quite badly quite quickly, and when she really considered it, Caline could say it was predictable and could have been better managed all around.

Her star pupil Marinette had been late to class, hardly unusual, though she'd actually texted ahead, warning Caline that she'd been caught in a morning attack in a neighboring arrondissement while making a delivery for the bakery. By the time Marinette arrived, the class had welcomed Lila into their ranks, and gone so far as to rearrange the entire seating chart to accommodate her disability and needs. Caline was feeling particularly proud about that, though in retrospect, there probably hadn't been any need to shuffle quite so many students, and they really should have held off on moving the one student who was absent, at least until she could participate in the process. Yes. That had been a most unfortunate snag. And now that she thought about it, Marinette had more attachment to her seat than she might have any other year. It was totally fair and expected that she might well see it as a badge of honor, having wrested it back from Chloe in the first week of the year.

That had definitely been a misstep, and something she, as the teacher, really should have guided the other students away from. They were still learning to be compassionate beings, and it would have been an excellent teachable moment. But by the same token, Marinette was their representative and the class model. She should have been able to accept the impermanence of her trophy seat with more grace. Surely she would have offered the seat up willingly, had she been present, so there was no need for hurt feelings now. The class hadn't been informed that Marinette's tardiness was excused and had pounced on her over that. Again, something she could have discreetly discouraged without sharing personal information, so Caline accepted that she bore some of the blame.

She was a bit blind-sided by the way her students reacted when Marinette showed up and expressed disappointment at the seating arrangement. There was  **no** kindness or compassion in their explanation of the situation, only judgement and anger. Did the class care so little for the girl who did so much for them, that they couldn't find  **any** understanding in their hearts? Had the class gone from respecting Marinette as a leader to  **expecting** her to simply give them everything? That and their uniform hostility was quite concerning. That Marinette's self-described best friend didn't even offer a compromise or alternative was a stark sign that something had gone severely wrong in her class, and Caline was at a loss to address it. It was the opposite of what she'd expected. But then, as she thought on it later, she realized that Marinette was usually the one to lead the charge and encourage her classmates to consider the other perspective, to care about each other, even when the situation was charged..

Caline needed to reassess  **everything** . It was daunting and horrifying, frankly, opening the possibility that only Marinette had been truly absorbing the social-emotional lessons, that Marinette's encouragement and actions had been the sole reason the class appeared to be the thoughtful freethinking leaders of the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't planning on working on this (Hero Cafe is due for an update, I'm well into Sweardrien, a follower milestone piece, and I'm TRYING desperately to get a Halloween "Something Familiar" sequel together), but writer brain barfed this into my mind and it had to be done. :)
> 
> Bad bishop is a chess term for a bishop that is blocked by its own pawns, limiting its ability to move to escape, capture or support other pieces. It is not always easy (or even possible) to improve a bad bishop's situation.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to visit me over on [Tumblr! ](http://freedom-shamrock.tumblr.com/)


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